Short man arrested for heel heists in South Korea

SEOUL (AFP) - A South Korean man, upset by women whose footwear made them taller than him, has been arrested for stealing high-heeled shoes and dumping them in local parks, police said on Wednesday.

The 24-year-old, identified only by his surname Lee, had stolen dozens of pairs of high heels from schools, restaurants and homes in his neighbourhood in the southern city of Busan in recent months.

"We'd first looked into the possibility of sexual perversion," a spokesman at Busan Yeongdo said. "But Lee said he did it because he didn't like women wearing heels to look taller than him when he's so short."

Lee, who stands at 165cm, was caught because he made the mistake of repeatedly dumping a number of shoes in one particular park that was monitored by CCTV cameras.